Submitted by Juliana Correa (juliana.correa@unioeste.br) on 2017-09-06T12:56:59Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Diego Z. Maria 2017.pdf: 715950 bytes, checksum: 85a855c3cd31ccea6849ea18a9d902f9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-06T12:56:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Diego Z. Maria 2017.pdf: 715950 bytes, checksum: 85a855c3cd31ccea6849ea18a9d902f9 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-06 / This dissertation proposes to analyze the impact of economic fluctuations and corresponding governmental policies, before and after the subprime crisis, on the capital structure of Brazilian non-financial companies, listed on the BM&FBOVESPA. The methodology used was of exploratory and descriptive, with quantitative analysis of the observations in the period from 2002 to 2015 by means of regression with panel data of random effect. The population was 270 companies listed on the BM&FBOVESPA, with 89 being the sample used in the survey, which complied with the required requirements as they disclosed their results annually, did not present negative equity and were not under judicial reorganization and present revenues. The results from the regression models identified the crisis as a determinant factor for long-term indebtedness in a positive relationship, but with a negative relation to short-term indebtedness, while BNDES disbursements infer a reduction in long-term indebtedness and the rate SELIC reduces short-term indebtedness. The conclusions allow us to highlight the subprime crisis as an explanatory variable for the changes that occurred in long-term and short-term indebtedness, with an indication of the transfer of resources from short-term sources of financing to long-term capital with corporate managers setting a target for total indebtedness, with fluctuations between the levels of long and short-term sources as a result of the corresponding macroeconomic variations that are presented. / A presente dissertação de mestrado, propôs analisar o impacto das flutuações econômicas e políticas governamentais correspondentes, antes e depois da crise do subprime, na estrutura de capital das empresas não financeiras brasileiras, listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. A metodologia utilizada foi de caráter exploratório e descritivo, com análise quantitativa das observações no período de 2002 a 2015 por meio de regressão com dados em painel de efeito aleatório. A população foi de 270 empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, com 89 constituindo a amostra utilizada na pesquisa que respeitaram os requisitos exigidos como a divulgaram seus resultados anualmente, não apresentaram patrimônio líquido negativo, não estiveram em recuperação judicial e apresentaram receitas. Os resultados provenientes dos modelos de regressão identificaram a crise como fator determinante para o endividamento de longo prazo em uma relação positiva, mas com relação negativa quanto ao endividamento de curto prazo, enquanto os desembolsos do BNDES inferem redução no endividamento de longo prazo e a taxa SELIC reduz o endividamento de curto prazo. As conclusões permitem evidenciar a crise do subprime como variável explicativa para as mudanças que ocorreram nos endividamentos de longo prazo e curto prazo, com indicação de transferência dos recursos de fontes de financiamento de curto prazo para o capital de longo prazo, com os gestores das empresas estabelecendo uma meta para o endividamento total, com oscilações entre os níveis das fontes de longo e curto prazo em decorrência das variações macroeconômicas e desafios correspondentes que se apresentam.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariano Seikitsi Futema.pdf: 677668 bytes, checksum: 8322f921434c36420dc10ce226244606 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-11-22 / Capital structure and dividend are among the most studied subjects of financial literature. However, only in 2002 the jointly analysis of these two subjects was done pioneerly by Fama and French who tested predictions of tradeoff and pecking order theories for those variables simultaneously in a work that studied American companies from 1965 to 1999. Jointly analysis means to recognize that capital structure is influenced by dividend and vice-versa and the consequence is an endogeneity problem. According to Cochrane (2005), one of the most common statistical problems existing in large numbers of empirical works is not to correct residual correlation in cross section or panel data regressions. Fama and MacBeth (1973) methodology is one way to correct this statistical problem and was used by Fama and French (2002). In Brazil, since 1996, besides dividend it has been allowed, by new law, to pay to shareholders interest on owner s equity. This interest on owner s equity reduce firm income tax and has the advantage of not to be mandatory, like dividend is in Brazil. In addition to those advantages, the income tax bracket on interest on owner s equity is lower than the most of the investor incomes. The main objective this research is to do a jointly analysis of dividend, interest on owner s equity and capital structure for Brazilian firms from 1995 to 2004. The results of this research are compared to predictions of tradeoff and pecking order theories, according to the model proposed by Fama and French (2002). To test empirical evidences four hypothesis with dividend, interest on owner s equity and leverage as dependent variables are considered. Generally speaking, results confirmed the major part of the theories predictions. However, Brazilian firm income payout was too low when compared to American firm. Profitability was the most important and influential explanatory variable either for income payout as to leverage. / A estrutura de capital e os dividendos são dois dos temas mais estudados em finanças corporativas. Porém, a análise conjunta desses dois temas foi realizada de forma pioneira apenas em 2002 por Fama e French que testaram as revisões das teorias de tradeoff estática e pecking order para aquelas variáveis, simultaneamente, num trabalho que cobre o período de 1965 a 1999. A análise conjunta significa reconhecer que o dividendo afeta a estrutura de capital e vice-versa, o que gera um problema de endogeneidade. Para Cochrane (2005) um dos problemas estatísticos mais recorrentes na maioria dos trabalhos em finanças é a não correção da correlação dos resíduos existentes na maioria das regressões lineares cross section ou de dados em painel. A metodologia proposta por Fama e MacBeth (1973) é uma das alternativas para corrigir esse problema estatístico e foi utilizada por Fama e French (2002). No Brasil, desde 1996, além dos dividendos, a legislação permite que se remunere os acionistas com os juros sobre o capital próprio. Esses juros têm as vantagens de serem dedutíveis do imposto de renda da empresa, não serem obrigatórios como os dividendos, além de ter tributação na fonte menor que a maioria dos demais rendimentos dos investidores. O objetivo desta dissertação é realizar uma análise conjunta da estrutura de capital, dividendos e juros sobre o capital próprio das empresas brasileiras para o período de 1995 a 2004, comparando os seus resultados com as previsões estabelecidas pelas teorias de tradeoff estática e pecking order, seguindo o modelo proposto por Fama e French (2002). Para testar as evidências empíricas são formuladas quatro hipóteses tendo como variáveis dependentes os dividendos, os juros sobre o capital próprio e a alavancagem. Em linhas gerais, os resultados confirmam boa parte das previsões das teorias, embora a distribuição de lucros no Brasil ainda seja muito baixa, comparada com a americana. A lucratividade demonstrou ser a variável explicativa de maior peso e influência tanto para a distribuição de lucros como para a alavancagem.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:30:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Liliane Cristina Segura.pdf: 1330178 bytes, checksum: 096d5c313a8c52ecbb6e6bfdba3ce05b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-09 / This research investigated the influence of family and founder on the debt of Brazilian listed companies. Despite the vast national and international literature on capital structure, there are still some doubts about the importance of family in business management. In Brazil, due to the large number of family businesses and concentrated control, is even more evident the need to investigate the issue. Many other studies have treated the family business, others control the concentration and others, the company's founder. The contribution of this work was to separate the companies that have concentrated control in the hands of one family, who have only the family influence, family control, those whose management is familiar and the other whose management is only the founder and also the founder of management company family.Furthermore, it was the separation of concentrated control, significant influence, management controlling, managing shareholder influence. In total 10 different separations were made and tested along the work. The study population consisted of companies listed on Bovespa in 2009, and the final sample consisted of 365 companies. As the main contribution of this work was used as a classification different from the other by separating control and influence,combining the family and the founder and principal actors. To this end, we observed six years (2004-2009), a total of 2190 observations. These data constitute an unbalanced panel that was treated by linear regression using ordinary least squares, then by random effects and finally by fixed effects. These techniques were applied to any distortions that diminish in relation to the control variables that were used and these panels might catch the best way to control and influence of the founder family and management in enterprises. The results show that companies with family control and the ones that have some influence of the founder is present in the sample studied, presented less debt than other companies, going according to national and international studies that claim that family businesses tend to be more conservative in their investments, looking to use more equity than others. However, companies that have concentrated control in the hands of one owner or company presented more debt than the others, confirming the studies that indicate the concentration of capital in Brazil and its consequent tendency to the expropriation of wealth by the majority shareholders . / Esta pesquisa investigou a influência da família e do fundador da empresa no endividamento das empresas abertas brasileiras. Apesar da vasta literatura nacional e estrangeira sobre estrutura de capital, ainda surgem dúvidas sobre a importância da família na gestão das empresas. No Brasil, devido ao grande número de empresas familiares e de controle concentrado, fica ainda mais evidente a necessidade de se investigar sobre o tema. Muitos outros estudos trataram as empresas familiares, outros a concentração de controle e outros, o fundador da empresa. A contribuição deste trabalho foi separar as empresas que possuem controle concentrado nas mãos de uma família, a que possuem apenas a influência familiar,controle familiar, aquelas cuja gestão é familiar e as outras cuja gestão é apenas do fundador e também gestão do fundador em empresas familiares. Além disso, fez-se a separação de controle concentrado, influência significativa, gestão do controlador, gestão do acionista influente. No total, 10 separações foram feitas e testadas ao longo do trabalho. A população estudada foi das empresas listadas na BM&FBovespa no ano de 2009, e a amostra final constituiu de 365 empresas. Como principal contribuição deste trabalho foi utilizada uma forma de classificação diferente dos demais, separando controle e influência, combinando a família e o fundador como intervenientes principais. Para isto, foram observados 6 anos (de 2004 a 2009), num total de 2190 observações. Esses dados constituíram um painel desbalanceado, que foi tratado pelos métodos de regressão linear por meio dos Mínimos Quadrados Ordinário, depois por efei tos aleatórios e por fim, por efeitos fixos. Estas técnicas foram aplicadas para que se diminuíssem eventuais distorções em relação às variáveis de controle que foram utilizadas e esses painéis pudessem captar da melhor forma a influência do controle e gestão familiar e do fundador nas empresas. Os resultados mostram que possuem alguma influência familiar e do fundador se apresentam, na amostra estudada, menos endividadas do que as outras empresas, indo de acordo com os estudos nacionais e internacionais que afirmam que as empresas familiares tendem a ser mais conservadoras em seus investimentos, procurando utilizar mais capital próprio do que de terceiros. No entanto,empresas que possuem o controle concentrado nas mãos de um só proprietário ou empresa se mostraram mais endividadas do que as demais, confirmando os estudos que indicam a concentração de capital no Brasil e sua conseqüente tendência à expropriação de riqueza por parte dos acionistas majoritários.

Esta tese é composta por três artigos que exploram a relação entre estrutura de capital e o setor. A literatura traz evidências que as firmas consideram as ações e decisões de seus pares competidores para tomar suas próprias decisões e que dentro deste ambiente elas podem ter estruturas de capital homogêneas. O objetivo geral é encontrar evidências que fatores relacionados ao setor são relevantes na determinação da estrutura de capital das firmas brasileiras. A contribuição está na busca pelos motivos que explicam esta influência e se os padrões do setor são importantes para as empresas brasileiras, como têm se mostrado para dados de empresas americanas. Esta tese se justifica por contribuir diretamente com as pesquisas que buscam avançar na compreensão de como os fatores relacionados ao setor vão afetar a estrutura de capital das firmas, sem desconsiderar os fatores internos. O primeiro capítulo é um artigo teórico que revisa os artigos publicados sobre o papel do endividamento nas relações intrasetor, competição e Organização Industrial. A relação da alavancagem com desempenho e sobrevivência é um dos temas principais. Os estudos revisados mostram que muitas vezes a firma endividada vai ter pior desempenho no mercado devido ao comportamento predatório das rivais. Não há consenso sobre o comportamento da firma endividada, existem autores que acreditam no comportamento mais agressivo, outros no comportamento mais conservador, assim como a falência de uma firma no setor pode trazer resultados positivos ou negativos para as demais. O segundo capítulo é um artigo empírico que utiliza as alterações de IPI realizadas pelo governo brasileiro como choques exógenos na relação entre alavancagem da firma e do setor. Foram utilizados dados de empresas brasileiras entre 2007-2015. O modelo econométrico utilizado foi o diff-in-diff-in-diff. Os resultados mostram uma relação positiva entre a alavancagem média do setor e da firma, relação esta que se mantém para o grupo de tratamento após a inclusão do choque exógeno de redução do IPI no modelo. Estes resultados se alinham com trabalhos que colocam o setor no centro dos aspectos influenciadores da estrutura de capital da firma. O terceiro e último capítulo também é um artigo empírico onde, em um modelo de ajustamento parcial, a relação entre oportunidades de crescimento de uma firma, quando maiores que as oportunidades de crescimento do setor, vão representar possíveis choques exógenos idiossincráticos recebidos por ela. Foram utilizados dados de empresas brasileiras entre 1995-2016. Os resultados principais confirmam que existe uma relação negativa, se há aumento da razão das oportunidades de crescimento da firma i em relação às oportunidades de crescimento do seu setor j, seus indicadores de alavancagem serão reduzidos, se houver queda na razão das oportunidades de crescimento, haverá aumento da alavancagem. Estes resultados estão ligados a trabalhos que afirmam que empresas com maiores oportunidades de investimento são mais eficientes, tem maior lucratividade e vão procurar manter níveis mais baixos de alavancagem e à Teoria da Agência quando demonstra que as firmas com baixas oportunidades de investimento usam o aumento da dívida como forma de controle dos gerentes. / This doctoral dissertation is composed of three papers that explore the relationship between capital structure and the Industry. Literature brings evidence that firms consider the actions and decisions of their competing peers to make their own decisions and they may have homogenous capital structures. The primary objective is to find evidence that industry factors are relevant in determining the capital structure of Brazilian firms. The study contribution is clarifying the reasons for this influence and answering if the industry\'s standards are important for the Brazilian companies as they have been as shown for the data of American companies. This dissertation is justified by contributing to the researches that advance in the understanding of how the industry\'s factors will affect the capital structure of the firms, without disregarding the internal factors. The first chapter is a theoretical article that reviews papers about the role of debt in the intraindustry relations, competition and Industrial Organization. The relationship of leverage with performance and survival is one of the main themes. The reviewed studies show that often the indebted firm will poorly perform on the market due to the predatory behavior of rivals. There is no consensus about the behavior of the indebted firm, there are authors who believe in more others in less aggressive behavior, as well as the bankruptcy of one firm in the industry can bring positive or negative results to others. The second chapter is an empirical investigation that uses IPI benefits (tax benefit) offered by the Brazilian government as an exogenous shock in the relationship between firm and industry leverage. We used data from Brazilian companies between 2007 and 2015. The econometric model used was diff-in-diff-in-diff. The results show a direct relationship between the mean industry leverage and the firm\'s leverage. The same remains for the treatment group after inclusion of exogenous shock of IPI reduction in the model. These results are aligned with studies that consider the industry as the principal influencing aspect of the firm\'s capital structure. The third and final chapter is also an empirical investigation using a partial adjustment model. The relationship between a firm\'s growth opportunities, when larger than the industry\'s growth opportunities, will represent possible received idiosyncratic exogenous shock. The Data is from Brazilian companies between 1995 and 2016. The main results confirm that there is an inverse relationship. If the ratio of growth opportunities of firm i compared with the growth opportunities of its industry j increase, than its leverage indicators will be reduced. If there is a decrease in the growth opportunities, than there will be increased leverage. These results are related to papers that show companies with greater investment opportunities are more efficient, have higher profitability and will try to maintain lower levels of leverage. These results are also related to Agency Theory, when it demonstrates that firms with low investment opportunities use the increase debt as a managerial control tool.

The importance of the capital structure as a measure of company growth and performance has been at the core of vigorous debate for many years. With the threat of the recession and global competitiveness to the survival of organizations, what constitutes an optimal capital structure had to be interrogated. The focus of the study is to investigate the factors (with more emphasis on size) that influence the capital structure of manufacturing firms in general and South African manufacturing firms in particular. The aim is to advance recommendations on policy formulation so as to improve the financial performance of the manufacturing sector in South Africa, a developing economy. The study is explained within the theoretical framework which relates elements purported to have an influence on the capital structure to the use of leverage/debt by organizations. Leverage is seen to increase the shareholders‟ interest whilst being exposed to financial risk. The size of the organizations as a comparative element defines the extent of accessing the borrowed funds, hence the distinction between the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and large sized enterprises (LSEs). The research evidence indicates that SMMEs are characterized by lower liquidity, use more short-term debt instead of use of long-term debt, and are generally low in debt and basically capital intensive. On the contrary LSEs are highly leveraged. The selected research design is triangulated, with a combination of a case study which is of a qualitative and interpretive nature, as well as a quantitative type survey by means of a structured questionnaire. Twenty five ratios were computed from information derived from the financial statements of organizations and means and medians were determined for comparative reasons. The questions were directed to chief financial officers or managers responsible for the compilation of the financial statements, mainly to expand on the debt policy of iv their respective organizations. The findings confirmed the correlation between gearing and size, asset structure and growth with the exception of profitability. On the relevance of financial policy regarding debt, two factors were proven to be influential to capital structure decisions: the theory and practice of capital structure and the impact of the debt policy, both of which relate to financial flexibility. The study concluded that as much as there are similarities/consistencies between the two size groups, there are fundamental differences confirming that size significantly impacts on the capital structure choice specifically the use of debt. It is, therefore, recommended that the South African government should review its policies with regards to the financial support towards SMME viability.

[pt] Esta tese investiga a decisão por emissões públicas ou particulares de ações no Brasil. É apresentada uma revisão da literatura nacional e internacional sobre o assunto. É relatada a evidência empírica no Brasil. Dois modelos são construídos de forma a elucidar o problema investigado, à luz da literatura revista e da evidência empírica: Análise Discriminante e Regressão Logística. A legislação relativa às emissões e ações no Brasil é resumida. Os resultados apontam para maior propensão à emissão privada de empresas estatais ou holdings, com menor lucratividade (maiores prejuízos), que realizaram emissões de menor porte, apresentavam maior concentração de propriedade, endividamento e menor liquidez em Bolsa de Valores. / [en] This dissertation studies the decision for public issues or private placements of equity in Brazil as a source of capital. The national and international literature on the subject is reviewed. The empirical evidence of placements of the Brazilian capital market and the characteristics of the issuers are also presented. After the discussion of the evidence and literature, two models are constructed: Multiple Discriminant Analysis and Logistic Regression, relating the characteristics of firms to the decision of type of issue. The regulation of stock issues is also discussed. The results show that firms with less liquid stocks, more debt, lower returns on equity and profits, more concentration of control and smaller issues, more probably use private issues.

This thesis examines the determinants of capital structure in the MENA coun- tries. The main interest is to investigate both financial firms specially banks and non-financial firms. This study test the main theories of capital structure, namely: trade off theory and pecking order theory. The countries included in this thesis are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (Include both Abo-Dhabi and Dubai stock indexes), Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine and Jor- dan. The characteristics it covers as suggested by previous literature are tangibility, profitability, risk, debt tax shield, growth, dividends,size, cash flow and liquidity. It will also investigate the effect of the industry, credit rating and ownership structure on the capital structure This study also investigates the determinants of capital structure in Islamic and conventional banks. This is one of the first attempts to empirically examine the determinants of capital structure in Islamic and conventional banks in general and in MENA countries in particular. This study fills the gap in this important area of research and can provide a base for future research on capital structure in Islamic banks. This thesis use different models to test the capital structure and these are Panel data models (OLS, Fixed, and Random); Tobit and Dynamical model (Arellano-Bover Blundell-Bond), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Generalised Regression Neural Networks (GRNN). The results suggest that the three methods used in this study lead to similar re- sults with a few exceptions in some countries. This thesis finds that the relation between leverage and the determinants of capital structure is different when using the market or the book leverage. It also finds that the determinants of capital struc- ture between the MENA countries are different. For example, profitability attribute relation with leverage follow the trade-off theory in some countries and follow the picking order theory in other countries. Also, liquidity is significant in all the countries in the sample and have a negative relation to leverage. In addition, tangibility is found to have a mixed results with some countries following the trade-off theory and other countries which follow the trade-off theory but overall it is a key determinant of capital structure. Additionally, the findings show that although that the majority of firms in the MENA countries don’t pay dividends the relation between the long term debt and leverage is negative in all the countries in the sample. The growth opportunities have a negative relation in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar and Tunisia but positive in rest of the countries. The cash flow attribute have a negative relation with leverage in all the countries in the sample except Saudi Arabia and Qatar when using the short and long term debt. Furthermore, the ownership variable is expected to have a negative relation when the ultimate owner is an institution. The results show that overall when there is an ultimate owner the leverage will have a negative relation. Suggesting that ultimate owners will force managers to keep a low debt in firms capital structure. This PhD also attempt to investigate the capital structure in banks within the MENA countries. A special focus is on the differences between the Islamic banks and conventional banks capital structure. First, the findings show that the banks follow the same determinants of capital structure as non-financial firms and that regulations are not the main determinant of capital structure in banks. Then, This study show that there is a difference in capital structure of Islamic banks in com- parison with conventional banks. The findings for the dividends variable show that Islamic banks do not follow the pecking order theory but conventional banks don’t. The results of the size variable show that when Islamic banks are large they use less debt in their capital structure. Growth variable show mixed results depending on the use of book or market leverage. Ownership structure show that when there is an ultimate owner leverage increase which is the reverse of the relation in the non-financial firms. The age variable is negative in relation to the book leverage and positive with the market leverage. Also, credit rating relation is different between the two banks, as it is positive with the conventional banks and negative with Islamic banks. Therefore, this study conclude that the main capital structure theories are applicable to MENA countries. Also indicate that Islamic banks have a different capital structure to conventional banks.

In the wake of the financial crisis the systemic importance of banks for the stability of the financial system became evident. Finansinspektionen classifies the banks Nordea, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Svenska Handelsbanken and Swedbank as systemically important for the Swedish financial system. The Basel accords strive to increase the resilience of banks and the financial system by imposing stricter regulatory capital requirements. It is debated how these restraints affect the banks’ cost of capital which prompt the first research question of the study: How has the increase in regulation regarding the capital structure of banks affected Sweden’s major banks’ cost of capital? According to Modigliani & Miller a firm’s cost of capital is independent of its capital structure. The second research question is thus: Does the development regarding Sweden’s major bank’s cost of capital align itself with the Modigliani-Miller theorem? The purpose of the study is thus to assess how the increase in regulatory capital requirements have affected the Swedish major banks’ cost of capital and to what extent these developments align with the Modigliani-Miller theorem. The researchers utilizes a quantitative method and collected secondary data for the period 2008 to 2016 to answer the formulated hypotheses which are deduced from the theoretical framework.   The results from the study illustrate significant correlations between increased regulatory capital requirements and the cost of capital. The authors can however not assert the irrelevance of capital structure for the banks’ cost capital but find that reduced tax shields only have modest effects on the banks’ cost of capital.

The main aim of the thesis is to describe the decision-making mechanism of companies regarding the capital structure over the business life cycle. The study analyses the use of main capital structure theories in practice. Moreover it links the financial theory with the concept of business life cycle. Secondly, the thesis includes detailed comparative analysis of various sources of business financing and their costs, quantification of the costs of capital and analysis of any calculation inaccuracy of this parameter in practice. Finally, the thesis defines the fundamental decision-making formulas about the capital structure in individual phases of life cycle while using the relevant data. The thesis is, on the grounds of research, focused on the trade-off theory and relating calculation of optimal capital structure.

This thesis examines three aspects of capital structure of manufacturing, mining and retail firms listed on Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). Firstly, it tests for the validity of the pecking order, the static trade-off and the dynamic trade-off theories in the context of South African manufacturing, mining and retail firms. The study used data from 42 manufacturing, 24 mining and 21 retail firms with complete data for four or more consecutive years during 2000-2010 (panel 1) to test the validity of these theories. The research hypotheses were formulated and tested using generalised least squares (GLS) random effects, maximum likelihood (ML) random effects, fixed effects, Prais-Winsten regression, Arellano and Bond, Blundell and Bond and the random effects Tobit models. Secondly, the thesis examines the impact of the firm’s key financial performance variables on firm leverage and speed of target adjustment. A panel of 49 manufacturing, 24 mining and 23 retail firms with complete data for two or more consecutive years during the period 2005-2010 (panel 2) was constructed and used in this test. The research hypotheses were formulated and tested using the same regression models used in panel 1. Lastly, the thesis examines the existence of the discounted value premium in manufacturing, mining and retail firms listed on the JSE. This study was done using panel of 47 manufacturing, 31 mining and 20 retail firms with complete data for four or more consecutive years during the period 2006-2010. A simple t-test was used to evaluate the significance of the sample’s discounted value premium. The study documents that firm growth rate, non-debt tax shields, financial distress, profitability, capital expenditure, asset tangibility, price earnings, ordinary share prices and changes in working capital were significant predictors of firm leverage. Dividend paid, capital expenditure, firm growth rate, profitability, cash flow from operations and economic value added were positively correlated to leverage. Asset tangibility, firm profitability, non-debt tax shields, financial distress, liquidity, price earnings, share price and retention rate were negatively correlated to leverage. Asset tangibility, financial distress, firm growth, non-debt tax shields, and long-term debt repaid were negatively correlated to changes in debt issued, whilst profitability, actual dividend paid, capital expenditure and changes in working capital were positively correlated. These results confirm the complementary nature of the trade-off and pecking order theories. Furthermore, the firms had positive and significant speeds of adjustment. In panel 1, the true speed of adjustment for the sample was 57.64% (0.81 years) for book-to-debt ratio (BDR) and 42.44% (1.25 years) for market-to-debt (MDR). The speed for manufacturing firms was 45.08% (1.16 years) for BDR and 44.59% (1.17 years) for MDR; for mining firms, 72.07% (0.54 years) for BDR and 56.45% (0.83 years) for MDR; and for retail firms, 28.42% (2.07 years) for BDR and 42.48% (1.25 years) for MDR. In panel 2, the true speed of adjustment for the sample was 64.20% for book-to-debt ratio (BDR) and 28.11% for market-to-debt ratio (MDR). The true speed for manufacturing firms was 34.42% for BDR and 30.56% for MDR; for mining firms, 69.59% for BDR and 45.77% for MDR; and for retail firms, 9.34% for BDR. These results confirm the validity of the dynamic trade-off theory. Finally, manufacturing, mining and retail firms had a positive discounted value premium. This ranged from 5.16% to 9.48% (on perpetual growth), with mining firms having the largest (9.48%), followed by manufacturing (8.54%) and retail firms (5.16%). Of the observations for the full sample, 92.23% showed a positive discounted value premium. This evidence on the speed of adjustment and discounted value premium suggests the existence of a target capital structure different from the theoretical optimal capital structure hypothesised by the static trade-off theory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Financial Management / unrestricted